I cringe when I look at my pitching stats. No offense to anyone, but I wonder if I even know WHAT THE H*** I'm doing! It's one thing to not have the personnel, but I think I have some decent pitchers (then again may be not). I think I'm sucking at when to play them and when not to. Marmol pitched .1 innings and gave up 4 walks and was tagged with 4 earned runs. I don't want to think about what that will do to the ERA and WHIP. I probably shouldn't have played him today because he was coming off some knee soreness, but I'm not sure if that had anything to do with his pitching today. So much to learn.

I cringe when I look at my pitching stats. No offense to anyone, but I wonder if I even know WHAT THE H*** I'm doing!

Tell me about it. I don't have a single reliever outside of Franklin who can work a 1-2-3 inning. My pitching has been all over the place and I keep guessing wrong. Every time I sit someone they throw 8 scoreless with a win, every time I start them they give up 7 runs in 5 innings. Peavy's been a mess too.

Gallardo is starting to come around though... 8 innings, 11k, and he hit a home run in a 1-0 win today.

Tell me about it. I don't have a single reliever outside of Franklin who can work a 1-2-3 inning. My pitching has been all over the place and I keep guessing wrong. Every time I sit someone they throw 8 scoreless with a win, every time I start them they give up 7 runs in 5 innings. Peavy's been a mess too.

Yeah but after the luck you had with your pitching staff last season, this is just some combination of the universe balancing itself out with some not-showing-up-for-the-draft sprinkled in. After the season your staff had last year, this April is merely bringing balance back to The Force. Up until this month, there was like 3 Sith lords somewhere or some ****.

Gallardo is starting to come around though... 8 innings, 11k, and he hit a home run in a 1-0 win today.

Grabbed him last season as a sleeper, tore a knee tendon like 2 starts into the season covering first base on a grounder. Had him the season before that and he threw like 100 quality innings or something, I think in 2007 I actually picked him up after you dropped him after a few starts. Your autopick snatched him up before I could grab him, but he definitely came to you at a discount this season because of the injury last year. He's staff ace material.

Pitching's been iffy across the board in a lot of ways this year. I had a day not so long ago where my ERA on the day was 22. Rivera's been bad (for him), Papelbon is working on new mechanics, Carpenter has a hang nail, the supposedly healthy Webb pitched one game and then should come back after missing two months, etc.

Yeah but after the luck you had with your pitching staff last season, this is just some combination of the universe balancing itself out with some not-showing-up-for-the-draft sprinkled in. After the season your staff had last year, this April is merely bringing balance back to The Force. Up until this month, there was like 3 Sith lords somewhere or some ****.

Definitely, I was massively spoiled last year when it came to pitching. If I'd been here for the draft I'd have probably tried to get as many of those guys as possible and Lee and Webb haven't exactly panned out this year so far, so I might not be in much better shape than I am now.

Grabbed him last season as a sleeper, tore a knee tendon like 2 starts into the season covering first base on a grounder. Had him the season before that and he threw like 100 quality innings or something, I think in 2007 I actually picked him up after you dropped him after a few starts. Your autopick snatched him up before I could grab him, but he definitely came to you at a discount this season because of the injury last year. He's staff ace material.

Yep, I'm pretty sure I picked him up and regretted dropping him later. He had one or two awesome starts, then one or two really poor ones (IIRC) at which point I cut him.

Anyone want Lance Berkman? I'd give him up for a stable closer but am open to offers...

I'm going to go on record to say that I think Manny is innocent. I think he'd be more likely to get suspended for pot than steroids/HGH. He says this is from a medication from an MD for a personal issue and I believe him.

Looks like it won't be overturned though:

"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me," Ramirez said. "Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now.

"I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons. I want to apologize to [Dodgers owner Frank] McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, [manager Joe] Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I'm sorry about this whole situation."

After consultation with the Players' Association and his personal representatives, Ramirez waived his right to challenge the suspension. He will lose about one-third of his $25 million salary."

My first reaction is to believe him too. He's never seemed like the steroid type. Unless he recently decided that he needed help staying on top of his game and started using something in the last year or two... He just doesn't have the look of a guy who's been doing it for a long time.

The most unfortunate part is no matter now whether he did or didn't, the majority won't believe him. I'm among the most skeptical when an athlete claims to have not used largely because so many that came before lied their asses off. Those that were caught and those that never were.

That might be why he isn't complaining so much - to avoid the embarassment.

And while it's not a violation in the strictest sense, apparently (and I only say this from what I read on another report) the substance he tested positive for is on the banned list. It is not specifically viewed as a performance enhancer, but it's on the list anyway. Kinda like when Olympic athletes get suspended/medals taken away for having taken benadryl for a cold. Innocent use, guilty outcome.